Portnoy spoke to MusicRadar.com recently about the new project. About how the band came together, Portnoy had this to say:

"I've known Russell Allen for over a decade now, and I've always thought he was a very underrated singer. He has one of the best voices in the business I've ever heard. I'd call him something of a modern-day DIO – he's that phenomenal. As much as Symphony X has a good following in the underground cult prog world, I always thought that Russell was more undiscovered than he should be.

I took Symphony X out on tour with Dream Theater in 2007 in Europe, and I remember watching them from the side of the stage every night. I was simply in awe of Russell. His voice and his stage presence totally floored me. And not to put words in his mouth, but he's said that he would watch Dream Theater and study what I was doing. He always liked that I was a rock drummer in a prog band – not to dismiss my prog influences – and he always thought I was more of a harder-edged, metal kind of drummer.

The two of us have always talked about doing something together, and as soon as I found myself an independent artist once again, it was obvious that the time was right. Quite coincidentally, Russell and Mike Orlando had been working on this material for the past year and were looking to put a band together. The minute Russell found out I might be available, he called me and asked if I'd consider the situation. I popped in the music they sent me, and that was it – I was in. The tunes were that strong."